


How's That Teenage Dream Going?

by alesca_munroe



Category: Unseen - Long Story Short Productions (Podcast)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Magic, Oops, Siblings, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29885451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alesca_munroe/pseuds/alesca_munroe
Summary: "A little holiday homework," Professor Greerson said."Just a fun experiment," he said."Trust me, none of you are skilled enough to cause lasting damage," he said.---In which Steven tries to do his homework and it goes a little... wrong.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	How's That Teenage Dream Going?

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to start naming things the way Alan Rodi names his music tracks.

"A little holiday homework," Professor Greerson said.

"Just a fun experiment," he said.

"Trust me, none of you are skilled enough to cause lasting damage," he said.

Steven looks at the pair of teenagers sitting where the LaValle twins had been observing, just to make sure he didn't blow up the house (again). He _really hopes_ this isn't permanent. If it is, he's giving Greerson the worst course critique in the history of the Academy.

"Addison?" he asks, wary. "Edmond…?"

"That rather depends on who's asking," the teen who looks like an acne-riddled Edmond LaValle replies. He gives Steven a hostile, suspicious look.

Meanwhile, Addison, swimming in what is usually a neatly tailored pants suit, leans over and looks at the detritus of Steven's homework. "Well, _this_ is interesting. What was supposed to happen?"

"Turn back the clock on this plant," Steven replies and gestures to the succulent in the middle of the table. "It seems I… missed. A little."

"Missed," Edmond repeats flatly and yikes, Steven is not a fan of the attitude, he's really not. "Right, and _who are you_ , again? I suppose it's too much to ask that you're someone who knows enough magic to undo whatever mess you've caused."

"Look, man, I'm only a second year at the Academy. I'm gonna have to call the professor for this one."

"I bet we could fix it," Addison says and elbows Edmond. "What do you say? It'll be fun."

Edmond's expression softens a little when he looks at Addison, currently two inches taller than him. "You're the clever one, sister dear. I'll just break it." 

"Nonsense, like you could make things worse. I keep telling you that you're every bit as smart as me."

"Your optimism is truly boundless."

"And one day, I'm going to find the end of your pessimism. Now look at these instructions. Frankly, it looks like an acid trip."

Figuring they'll be fine for five minutes, Steven leaves to dig up Professor Greerson's contact information.

\---

"It's the holidays, Mr LaValle," Madame L'Enver tells Steven patiently. "Professor Greerson turned in his grades for his midterms and hopped on the first plane to the States. And no, I'm not giving you his phone number."

"Madame L'Enver, it's kinda an emergency," Steven insists and tries not to panic. "I fucked up on the homework he gave us and now the LaValle twins are _teenagers_."

"Regression magic is not a joke, Mr LaValle, and its difficulty makes it highly unlikely that you managed it _on accident_."

"No really, Edmond is a pessimistic shit with _acne_ . Addison is the one telling him things are going to be okay _and_ she's taller than him. I need _some_ kinda help here."

Madame L'Enver sighs. "All right. Keep them inside and out of trouble. I'll try to get Tony on the phone and come to London in the meantime."

"Thank you thank you thank you." Steven lets his head thump against the desk in his room. "Did you know the twins? Back when they were in the Academy?"

"I did. Edmond's sole purpose for getting out of bed in the mornings was keeping Addison out of fights. So good luck with that."

\---

Eventually, Steven manages to drag some information out of the twins. They're fifteen, made it past the Caul about seven years ago. Steven wonders what happened along the line that made Edmond into the upbeat man that rescued Steven three years ago, especially since Addison seems to be hoarding both their supplies of dopamine. He's also afraid to ask about the fights that Addison apparently gets into, because the Addison that Steven knows fights with her words. This Addison's knuckles are split open.

Addison catches Steven looking at her hands. She tells him, "Pierre from Montmartre didn't listen when I told him to stop bullying that new kid. I had to make him listen."

Steven despairs.

\---

Edmond LaValle is not, nor has ever been, apparently, a morning person. Steven pokes his head into Edmond's room around ten the next morning. Addison has been up for almost four hours by this point, going through all of her books and clothes and overly excited that she gets to be a member of Black Star when she grows up. Edmond is still cocooned in all the blankets from the hall closet and the two throw blankets from the couch.

"Hey," Steven says lamely. "You hungry?"

Edmond shrugs, listless.

Steven misses Rose, sudden and fierce. She would know what to do. Hell, the adult versions of Edmond and Addison would know what to do; they dealt with _Steven_. He exhales and tries to remember how they helped him. Everything from the early days in Addison's house felt grey and like cotton in Steven's head. Between the accidental murder of everyone he loved, moving across the ocean, and the general insanity of it all, Steven was in a bad place. But Addison and Edmond helped him through it. The least he can do is help now.

"Brunch in ten," Steven tells him, decisive. Food is a good start. "In the kitchen."

Steven goes to the kitchen and starts pulling out the ingredients for pancakes. Addison sits at the table with a familiar, battered book. "You and Edmond bought that for me when you took me in," Steven says as he measures and mixes. "Said it was the book you learned with."

"It is," Addison confirms with a smile. She looks down at the pages. "We're still working through the book. Edmond is the best at fire spells, you should see the fireworks he can make."

"Anyone could do it," Edmond says and slumps into the chair next to her. "You always make it sound cooler than it is. And I'm not going to accidentally burn down your house just because you want to see something cool."

Addison's expression turns crestfallen and it takes everything in Steven not to tell Edmond to stop being a dick. "The odds of you burning down the house with another fire mage and your water mage sister around are ridiculously low," Steven tells him instead. "C'mon, help me make the batter. Addison, can you grab fruit or something? Whatever you guys like for pancakes."

It's weird to be taller than Edmond. It's even weirder that Edmond isn't chatting away about literally anything and everything. Steven thinks it might have to do with the surreality of the situation and with Steven himself. Addison told Steven that Edmond would tell her stories and ask riddles all the time, practically since he could talk in the first place.

"I dunno what's going on in your head, I'm not that kind of magician," Steven admits quietly. Edmond startles a little but doesn't look at him. "But you get through it, okay? Addison eventually learns how to fight with her words instead of her fists, but she's never not gonna need you. When she gets sad, you remind her that she's amazing and can do anything. And one day, you save an idiot kid and bring him to be part of your family. So uh. Don't give up, okay? I wouldn't be here without you."

"I break everything I touch," Edmond answers, almost inaudible. "How can I save anyone?"

Steven puts a hand on his wrist and doesn't flinch at the fire that wraps his own hand. It's _fire_. Steven knows how it works, and half of that is thanks to Edmond. He holds up his hand for Edmond to see, not a burn in sight. "Addison isn't the only one who can change the world if she puts her mind to it."

Addison chooses that moment to let out an impressive string of curses and drop the knife she was using to cut up mangoes. Edmond immediately goes to her side and wraps the slice across her palm with a dishtowel. "It's fine, you're fine," Edmond assures her, keeping pressure on the wound. "I've got you."

"I'm not a baby, Edmond," Addison grouses as Steven fetches the first aid kit. "I can deal with a little cut myself."

"Hush and let your big brother take care of you."

"It's only twenty-six minutes."

"Still counts," Edmond says, sing song, and Steven catches a glimpse of who Edmond will be one day.

He goes back to making pancakes.

\---

Madame L'Enver takes one look at the homework Professor Greerson assigned and says, "I'm going to kill Tony when he gets here."

"That is not a ringing endorsement," Addison says before Steven can say something much less polite. "There are some challenges with the spellwork, certainly, and the level of concentration necessary is higher than my current level, but it's the _Academy_. Is this not the standard?"

Before Madame L'Enver can reply, there's a knock at the front door. Edmond proves to be foolhardy to a suicidal degree by just waving the door open. "What?" he says to Steven's look. "If they're Veiled, they'll go away, and if they're a problem, they wouldn't have knocked."

Professor Greerson is already talking before he even walks inside. "Madeline, I don't know what kind of emergency you're having, but I was _halfway across the Atlantic_ when I realized I was missing some very crucial research and that I somehow had- _sweet merciful fuck,_ " Greerson cuts himself off, eyes wide. He stares at the LaValle twins, both in sweatpants and too large shirts because that's all that would even close to fit them. "Well, that explains where my papers went. Mr LaValle, I have your homework."

"Please tell me you can fix this," Steven says. "Addison has a meeting with the council in two days and I'm pretty sure Edmond was supposed to be in Sri Lanka this morning."

"Okay. Okay." Greerson rubs his hands together with a determined expression. "This is not what I expected when I landed at Heathrow, but hey, adapt and overcome. All right, Steven, walk me through this."

Addison pays the sort of attention that means she's committing all this to memory. Edmond looks far more interested in the homework that Steven was meant to be doing, but he's sitting between Addison and everyone else, turned in his seat so he can see all of them if he happened to glance up. It strikes Steven that Edmond, adult Edmond, does that, too. Maybe not block her so overtly, Addison won't stand for it, but definitely guarding her blind spots. And she watched his back, too.

Professor Anthony Greerson ambles along the scenic route, explores every option, traces them over in as many ways as it takes for his students to follow his drift, and then tells a few more stories just to make sure. Research Specialist Anthony Greerson is a lightning storm, covering far more ground in much less time, barely contained by Madame L'Enver's tempering. More than once, she hands him a sticky note, and says, "Write it down, move on."

Steven doesn't have much input he can give after the initial explanation. He knows that there were _far more_ moving parts in that spell than what Greerson had written down, and that it's a wonder Steven had managed to make it work at all.

So Steven goes to the kitchen where the LaValle twins have camped out with the battered old magic book and have started working on the next spell on their list. Steven makes scones, for lack of better ideas. He watches the twins out of the corner of his eye, feeling a little responsible for them since they're _fifteen_ and it's his fault. Watches Edmond cast, and Addison nudge the flow of magic into the right shape when he falters.

Steven almost drops the mixing bowl. How could he _forget_ -

Greerson's head snaps up when Steven bursts into the living room, but his hold on the magic between his palms doesn't even waver. "Training wheels," Steven says, breathless.

"For when you're new on a bicycle?" L'Enver hazards, arching an eyebrow. 

Greerson groans and lets the magic dissipate, immediately understanding where Steven is going with this. L'Enver doesn't get it but Greerson is like Edmond, is a storyteller. Neither of them have ever met a non sequitur they couldn't tie back to the point.

"Or when you're new at magic," he says and sits down on the couch.

"Right," Steven confirms. "Addison or Edmond used to help me with homework or practicing control and they would help balance, or nudge things in the right direction so I could see how things were _supposed_ to go. They haven't had to in a year, but I'd been working on that thing I thought was homework for a while. So when I tried again with the two of them in the room to help me see where I was doing it wrong…"

"They both nudged," Greerson finishes. "Right. That answers how you made the spell work. I can fix this."

"How sure are you?" L'Enver asks him quietly, probably not meant for Steven to hear. "These are human lives. The margin for error is impossibly small."

"I can fix this," Greerson repeats and looks at Steven. "All right. Ready to see some advanced magic?"

\---

Greerson shoves the furniture in the living room to the walls- carefully, because Addison says that her future self will almost definitely be _very upset_ if anything gets broken. Teenage Addison flexes her hands in a way that implies that her version of upset involves getting hands on with the problem in front of her. Edmond's expression seems to imply that he would absolutely help.

Steven moves a few things out of the room- not the few breakables, but the photographs, a kitschy statue of one of the Easter Island heads that Edmond had given her years ago, the knitting project that Steven swears he'll finish one day.

L'Enver will be constructing the barrier over the living room, to ensure nothing interferes. She stands in the east corner, with water, earth, and fire in the other cardinal directions and her hands folded into a shape that should be painful but she holds with ease, waiting on Greerson's signal.

The LaValle twins stand in the center of the room, hand in hand. "And you're sure this won't make things worse," Edmond says to Greerson.

Greerson looks at Edmond directly. "I wouldn't risk you on a guess," he says quietly. "Either of you."

Edmond nods and doesn't say anything else to him. Instead, he looks at Addison with a falsely bright smile. "Well. If they get this right, it sounds like I get to go to Sri Lanka. Fancy."

"I'll trade you. _You_ can go to my meeting and talk their ears off until they agree to your terms out of self-defense." Addison nudges Edmond's shoulder. "How is it that _you_ get the fun job of going around the world and _I'm_ stuck in meetings?"

"Needs must when the devil drives, sister dear. I imagine they need your positivity more than my storytelling."

Addison rolls her eyes. Greerson finishes setting up, looks at the spell one more time, and puts the paper in his pocket. "I can't stress to you enough," Greerson tells the twins. "Don't try to augment anything Madeline or I do. We have to be incredibly precise, or it won't go right. Let's not have to cast this more than once, all right?"

The twins nod. Steven steps back into the doorway and L'Enver brings the barrier up. He stands close enough to feel the energy hum over his skin and wishes he could help. All he can do, Professor Greerson told him, is hold back his own magic from interfering.

Greerson walks up to the twins, gives them a reassuring smile, and then starts casting. It's the reverse of the spell Steven had used, constructed quickly as soon as they had figured out exactly what went wrong. Steven watches and, not for the first time, wonders what the hell Greerson is doing, teaching the the most basic classes in the Academy. Steven's magical exposure is still pretty limited, but even he can see that Greerson could do almost anything he wanted to do.

Light flashes, golden, and Steven shuts his eyes against the glare. When the spots clear from his vision, the teenagers are gone.

The Addison and Edmond he knows stand there instead. They look slightly bewildered, but then comprehension settles into their faces. L'Enver drops the barrier and Steven darts inside, utterly relieved.

Before Steven can reach the twins, Edmond turns, expression unreadable, and leaves the room. Greerson follows, waving for L'Enver to stay put. Addison puts her hands on Steven's shoulders. "Don't worry about Edmond," she tells him kindly. "Fifteen wasn't a good look on either of us; he's a bit embarrassed right now."

"I'm not going to judge him for being _depressed_ ," Steven answers, baffled, but then goes on. "Are you okay? Did Professor Greerson get it right? Please tell me you know who I am."

"I'm fine, yes he got it right, and of course I know you." Addison gives him a small smile. "I do apologize for your having to deal with me as a teenager, though."

"I warned him you got into fights," L'Enver tells Addison. "Though my interactions with your fifteen year old self leads me to believe you had mellowed out by the time you got to the Academy."

Steven pats Addison's shoulder awkwardly, and heads out to find wherever Edmond and Greerson had gone while L'Enver ensures that Addison is truly all right. After a few moments of searching, Steven spies Edmond and Greerson sitting on the back steps, shoulder to shoulder and talking quietly. Edmond's shoulders are hunched, his head bowed. He gestures vaguely. Greerson catches Edmond's hand in his, keeps hold of it. Says something, expression intense.

Steven stops watching and goes to the kitchen. He might still be able to salvage the scones.

\---

"So, valuable lesson for me," Professor Greerson says as he moves all the furniture back to their proper places under Addison's sharp-eyed direction. "Don't put research and homework assignments in the same place."

“Note to self,” Steven adds, munching on one of his scones. Little dry, but nothing a healthy dose of jam doesn’t fix. “Double-check the homework provided against the syllabus. Seriously, though, I just thought you wanted to see what we’d do with entirely new magic than what you’d shown us before.”

“I’m actually surprised you managed _anything_ with that; Lady knows I don’t write down my entire thought process ever.”

Steven shrugs and nudges one of the picture frames a quarter of an inch over. “You and Edmond think about things in similar ways. I filled in the gaps with what turned out to be fairly accurate guesses. And plus, you know. Training wheels.”

Greerson stops in the middle of adjusting the coffee table and looks at Steven. “Councilor,” he says to Addison, turning to her. “I don’t know what you and Agent LaValle are teaching him, but you’re doing a great job.”

“Well, the Academy has had a significant hand in his schooling,” Addison says with a smile. She looks at Steven. “Go see what’s taking Edmond so long; he does still have a flight to catch.”

Steven goes. Edmond is in his room, absently putting a tie on. “Hey,” Steven says, leaning against the doorframe. “You wanna talk about it?”

Edmond gives him a rueful smile. “It’s been a long time since I was fifteen,” he says, finishes knotting his tie, and zipping his overnight case. “I’d forgotten what it felt like. It wasn’t a good time.”

Steven understands that on a visceral level. “I don’t know that fifteen is kind to any of us. Not discounting you and your experiences, just. I get it? And I know you and Addison feel extra responsible for me, but if there’s anything I can do to help you two, any way I can help, I want you to let me know.”

“Steven...” Edmond sighs, pulls Steven in for a hug. “You help more than you know. And thank you, for everything.”

“Sorry I turned you into a teenager,” Steven mumbles as he hugs Edmond back.

Edmond laughs, pulls away, and picks up his bag. “Ask Addison about the time I lit her hair on fire. I thought she was actually going to kill me that time.”

They go back to the living room, and Addison and Edmond immediately begin talking quietly in a corner. Addison makes sure that Edmond is adequately prepared for the trip and reminds him that someone else can cover down. Edmond reminds her that he is her best agent (“third best,” she corrects) and he is fine to deal with this and yes, he has everything he needs. L’Enver pretends she isn’t laughing at them. Steven wanders over to Greerson. “So, what’s in the States that you were in such a rush to see?”

Greerson gives him a sly little grin. “Waffle House.”

Steven must have misheard him. “ _Waffle House?_ ” he repeats.

“It’s the secret to magic. I know I told your class that story.”

“I’ve _been_ to Waffle House. There’s nothing magic about it.”

“Clearly you’ve never been there at three in the morning and hungover.”

“Tony,” L’Enver sighs as she comes over. “How many times do I have to tell you that your experiences are not universal?”

“Waffle House is a _universal constant_ .” Greerson waves his hands through the air, images sparking up over his fingers. “The jukebox, the sizzle of hashbrowns, the fact that they can and will make an everything waffle for you and you will feel like you’re dying afterwards, but you’ll be _happy_ while you’re eating it.”

Steven can smell the waffles, until L’Enver waves the magic away. “I do believe we’ve overstayed our welcome, Tony. I’m dropping off Agent LaValle at the airport; do you also need a ride?”

“Sure, I’m heading out now that I have my research back, as well as some fascinating lab notes, thank you, Mr LaValle, for your invaluable assistance.” Greerson makes a point to check the documents one more time before putting them in his backpack.

“Heading to America, then?” Edmond asks, guiding Greerson to the door. 

Steven looks at Edmond’s hand on Greerson’s back and then looks at Addison. Addison shakes her head, clearly not about to get involved, and bids Madame L’Enver goodbye.

“No,” Greerson replies and oh geez, why is Steven still watching this. “I hear Sigiriya is worth checking out.”

“Do you know, I’d heard the same.” Steven can hear the smile in Edmond’s voice. “I may have to stop by there after I finish my work. Do you know how long you’ll be in the area?”

“Oh, I think I can be persuaded to linger.”

\---

Steven waits for Addison to leave for the office and for Edmond’s flight to have taken off before testing out the new homework Professor Greerson had left behind. He casts, carefully. There’s no flash of light, no pop of magic, but the walls are now a truly unfortunate shade of red. He’s pretty sure the ceiling is _humming_.

He thinks he can fix this before Addison gets back. Maybe.

He looks at the walls and winces. It’s a _really_ awful color.

**Author's Note:**

> Fact: an everything waffle is true to the name and has all of the toppings- blueberries, peanut butter, chocolate chips, pecans, everything. I got it for a coworker and we all thought it was going to kill him. He, of course, finished it anyway.


End file.
